Troubled Souls
by LaurXD
Summary: Join Elsword and Aisha as they attempt to heal each other's wounds while facing a threat bigger than the ElGang ever imagined. Friendships will be created and relationships will develop during these dark times. Rated T for swearing and blood. ElsAi main, but I'll dedicate chapters to other characters as well.
1. Velder - Part One

Welcome to my second ElsAi story, Other pairings may or may not be involved, I actually plan on making a longer story out of this and keeping it quite on the hard side ( blood and swearing present). I'll keep the classes a secret :3, though the ones that spoke with me through pm will know at least the main ones. And it's not that hard to guess the rest.

I'd also want to thank Breathless Abyss for giving me input on Aisha's personality!

CHAPTER GET!

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On the southern gate, in the city of Velder, a fierce battle was happening between theThe battle against what they thought would be Chloe alone, turned into a mad dash across the walls of the city as the gang was chased by the Dark Nephilim, between having to use traps to slow the giant down, and dodging it's attacks the gang suffered severe injuries. By the time they were cornered and the Nephilim was closing in towards their position, only Elsword and Eve were standing in front of the massive demon, Aisha being previously slammed into the barricade stopping their way, and Raven suffering a direct blow from one of it's claws. With Rena trying to get them both back up to their feet the task of protecting the group came down to Elsword and Eve. The girl directed her drones to attack, as massive spears came to existence as Eve used them trying to impale the demon's skin her efforts were fruitless as his skin was harder than even her obsidian spears. The redhead dashed from behind her as he climbed the monster's arm trying to hit his head. Using his other claw, the monster hit Elsword directly knocking the boy straight into Eve, both of them tumbling away. Next, the demon tilted his head upwards as he let loose a massive howl towards the sky, two massive dark shards came crashing down on the remaining two members of the gang. As the shards came closer and closer, two massive explosions were heard, as two blue projectiles connected to the shards completely destroying them Shortly after another boom was heard as young blonde came crashing down wielding a massive cannon. The gang's eyes were all on him, who was the blonde in blue and white armor, who had possibly saved their lives just then? But the time wasn't right for introductions as the boy shot his cannon downwards and launched himself into the air as he avoided an attack from the demon. He landed a fair bit away as he positioned his cannon on a firing position over his shoulder, he let loose a barrage of missiles as he yelled towards the gang.

"GO! I'LL PROVIDE SUPPORT, GO!" His cerulean eyes determined to protect the ones that were willing to risk their lives over saving a city.

The demon let out a scream as he opened his mouth revealing an eye. That was all Rena needed as she took out her bow and loaded her sword, Earendil, into it. She took aim and fired hitting the demon straight in his eye. Another scream came forth from the demon, who was now beating a fast retreat.

"Oh no you don't!" Aisha yelled as she conjured a black hole where the monster was standing pinning it in place, the magic took a toll on her body, as she collapsed to her knees still managing to keep the spell up.

Raven fixated his black, obsidian, claw in the ground as he got up, eying the monster's weak point. He took a glance at Elsword who also got up, supporting himself with his sword. The two exchanged glances as they started dashing towards the monster's open mouth. By the way they were running it would've looked like they were about to crash one into the other, when suddenly Elsword extended his arm towards Raven who grabbed him with his Nasod arm. He then used his momentum to turn in a circle as he outright threw Elsword into the giant's mouth. As he flew towards the monster's weak point another sword materialized in the redhead's free hand, as he reached the demon's impaled eye he kicked the Earendil even deeper, and with a swift motion he used both of his swords to further impale the monster's eye. As blood came gushing out and splattering over him, the monster's mouth closed after letting out a excruciating scream. The Dark Nephilim was no more. The armored blonde offered his hand to the silverette helping her up. As Rena, Aisha and Raven ran towards the monster's body. As the three got closer, a low growl was heard from the demon, catching the three off-guard. The growl became louder and louder as the demon's mouth started opening, Rena and Aisha started stepping back as Raven took a defensive stance. As the demon's mouth opened more Elsword started stepping out of the carcass, red liquid covering his face, a heavy laugh escaping his throat. He soon started laughing even harder as he was now holding his sides and pointing his finger at Raven.

"T-THAT FACE! BAHAHAH" Was all the boy could muster, laughter getting the better of him at the expense of the dark haired man.

Moving a hand through the red patch on his head Raven came closer to him and as soon as he was about to give the red head a piece of his mind, the boy collapsed. The man caught him before he hit the ground, and supported his weight. He then moved towards the white and blue armored blonde.

"Thanks back there." As he turned and started walking towards the way off the walls .Aisha following him.

Rena remained behind talking with the blue eyed knight. "Hello, my name's Rena." She started introducing herself.

A calm voice was heard from the blonde "I'm Chung, Hamel's, well Prince I guess." Was his reply, accompanied by an awkward scratch of his head.

Eve's voice interrupted the two. " A prince you say?" the fact that she was surprised by this was uncharacteristic for her, what was even more uncharacteristic was the fact that she let it show. "I am Eve, the queen of the Nasod." the girl said as she looked straight into the boy's cerulean eyes.

The boy was captivated by her amber eyes, he had to shake his head to tear himself from staring at her. Rena continued introducing everyone, "The man with his hair in a pony-tail is Raven. The redhead is Elsword, and the purplenette is Aisha. Do excuse them for acting like this, but this was a rough day for us."

A small laugh escaped the young man. "Don't worry miss Rena, it takes more than this to offend me." Soon the elf's teasing voice could be heard "What if I take a stab at your oddly colored hair that looks just like two doggy ears?" The boy quickly covered his oddly colored hair as he lowered his head letting out a laugh. "I guess it does look like a couple of ears doesn't it?"

Walking next to them, Eve caught herself staring at the blonde,and briefly wondered what attracted her eyes to him. She started walking at a faster pace, trying to clear her mind, seeing as another peculiar thing occurred, his face kept popping up whenever she blinked. She decided once they'd reach an inn she'd run a couple of diagnosis programs on herself.

The three reached the wall's lower portion as they noticed Raven, Aisha and Elsword waiting for them. After Chung properly introduced himself both groups entered the the city's it being rather late, as soon as they reached the center of the town, the townsfolk started cheering for them as Vanessa's forces tried to keep the townspeople away from the injured gang.

Her strong voice inspired fear into the townsfolk as they stopped trying to break the lines her men were holding. Instead they were holding their positions as they cheered and thanked the group for saving their town.

The gang entered the inn they were staying at when the monsters started attacking the town, the blonde following them, he had tried getting his own room, but Rena managed to convince him to share with the rest of her friends, they had six beds in there after all. (AN: Don't ask me what kind of inn has six beds in a room) as he entered the room, he found Elsword's armor-less body being placed on the bed by Raven, Aisha standing on the bed in a sitting position, reading from what he could make out a dark arts book, what he didn't notice at the girl before, was the small weird fluffy bat that now rested on the mage's head. This caused boy to start staring at her from his bed, as luck would have it the girl noticed it.

She thought he was looking at the way she was dressed, as many have done in the past, before she made the contract with Angkor, her familiar, and had to wear this outfit. The strands of leather that covered her chest and the small skirt she wore weren't really her first choice in clothes. What annoyed her the most was the people's perception, no one minded her practicing dark magic when she saved their butts, yet they'd all turn their backs on her when the danger had passed. Everywhere she went the simple minded people were either afraid and were avoiding her or they were throwing malicious insults and hard glares her way. Some were approaching her, mistaking the mage for a prostitute, it wasn't her damn fault she thought,it was an unfair price she had to pay for wanting to help people. Yes she chose being a dark mage, but not anyone can do that, it takes an incredible amount of willpower not to succumb to the temptation and let the dark mana over-take your soul. But there was nothing she could do, she had to suck it up and move onwards keeping her head up. That's how society was made. If you don't follow its rules, you're antagonized and cast aside never mind you risking your life to save people. Needless to say, apart from the El-gang she didn't bother socializing too much, she was close to enough people to last her a life time, she thought, why would she bother knowing new people. And such when she spoke, her tone was way more sour than she intended it to be.

"Could you stop staring at me like I killed your dog or something?" Her purple bangs swayed as she spoke. The boy blinked out of his trance, and lowered his head. "I-I'm sorry, I was looking at your little puffy bat.." hearing this the bat started flapping his wings as he came closer to the boy, suddenly it started speaking, causing Chung to crawl away on the other side of the bed. "Who're you calling puffy? Kid?"

"Now, now kids play nice." Rena's voice was heard as she stiffed a giggle. "We should rest, tomorrow we can explore the city."

"This reminds me, " Chung stated, "Could I make you guys come to Hamel with me? Of course you don't have to but-" Rena interrupted him, "Of course we'll go, it was in our plan to get to Hamel eventually, we just have to refill our inventories in Velder. So the day after tomorrow we'll probably head towards Hamel." Saying that she laid herself on the bed and closed her eyes, despite her cheery tone the elf was exausted. She fell asleep almost instantly.

Looking around the room, Chung saw Eve, on the side of the bed directly across from his, typing away at a screen that seemed to be projected out of her arm. She caught the girl taking glances at his Destroyer and Armor that was neatly folded near the bed. "You want to see them closer?" He offered, startling the girl. Her answer took him by surprise "Yes, I'd like to take a closer look." As she rose from her bed and came closer to his Destroyer. The blonde got up too and started describing the mechanism of the weapon to her. They spent the next half an hour talking about the boy's armor, as Eve noticed Nasod technology was a part of it.

Next to the two, Raven was sleeping soundly and Aisha was throwing worried glances towards Elsword. After a few minutes, the mage deemed it was time to end her tiring day, as she covered herself with the blanket and tried to go to sleep, ignoring Eve and Chung's banter.

Later that night, Elsword's sleep was disturbed, the same dream that plagued his nights over the years returned even now. Images that caused constant pain to the redhead came flooding his mind. He remembered when his father brought him the news of his sister's disappearance, His sister's smiling face still fresh in his mind as she left to lead her final mission. He remembered when his family asked the Red Knights to send a search party countless times after their daughter, hoping to at least recover her body their request denied every single time. He remembered when his mother was killed by a group of robbers that entered the house while his father was away on a mission for the blasted Knights. Unconsciously tears started sliding down his cheeks. His nightmare was far from over, he the scene that he remembered next was when he found his father hanged in the middle of the room when he came back from training. His eyes snapped open, as he unconsciously wiped his tears away. The boy had a happy childhood, until those events happened. He wanted to become a Red Knight, he remembered how highly he regarded the Red Knights, as a child, and how badly they disappointed him. If the elder of Ruben hadn't felt pity towards the boy when he took him in his house, he dreaded the thought of what could have happened to him or where he'd be now.

With a look towards his sword, the moment when Conwell chose him, came to mind. He noticed trader caravan being robbed as he was training through the forest. At the time, he wore his hair in a pony-tail. He also had a red sleeveless shirt and armored pants. The traders were on their knees as a group of bandits threatened them with swords at their necks. What appeared to be the bandit leader approached a low growl he lashed out at him."Beat it kid, or I'll sink my sword into you after I'm done with them."

As the man turned his back to the boy, he unsheathed his sword and calmly said. "You know, you'd best leave as long as you're able to."

"Oh ,really?" Came the bandit's mocking response. With a gesture towards a bandit he turned to face Elsword. "You see, I was willing not to spill blood, but you've forced my hand." he motioned the boy to take a look at the prisoners, as one of his bandits pushed one of the traders forwards. In a swift motion his blade's steel cut into the poor man's throat. A woman's cry was heard above the bandit's laugh. "We don't play here, kid."

Elsword gritted his teeth, as he ran at the man in blind fury and swung his sword. The bandit evaded the attack, using Elsword's inexperience against him, he delivered a knee straight into his side causing the boy to collapse. With another motion, another bandit brought the crying woman forwards, waiting until the boy could see, the leader motioned towards the bandit, and in a flash, blood scattered across the ground as the woman met the same fate as her husband. The boy clenched his fists, he wanted so badly to save those people, to not have others face the same pain he did. Suddenly, a voice was heard in his head.

"Rise Elsword. My name is Conwell, and I have chosen you, because, despite on how others treated you, you still try to protect the weak. Feel my power and use me as you see fit, to protect the weak. Take the power of the Infinity Sword in your hands."

The boy rose to his feet, summoning the sword Conwell in his hand, he felt imbued with power as he dashed fast as lightning to the man's chest. He looked him straight in the eyes, his lips pursed in a thin line as he drove his sword through his heart. Afterward he used the same speed he showed as in a blink every bandit from behind the prisoners fell dead. He stood there, blood pooling at his feet. Looking at his new weapon, silently smiling to himself.

Elsword spent the rest of the night sleepless, as he was used to by now. One by one his friends got up. What intrigued the boy was how Rena left with Raven to presumably shop for potions and other things the group would need in their travels. He noticed how Raven's look would soften up when he'd look at the elf, and how the woman would take sideways glances at him or how she'd tease him on his red patch on his black hair. Soon after, Eve approached Chung on the topic of his weapon and armor.

Aisha quickly grew bored of reading from her book, as she picked the tome up and put it in a bag she previously bought. She got up from her bed and left, not saying a word to anyone, that's how she was, Elsword reasoned.

Some time passed, as Elsword found himself staring at the window, his hand caressing the sword shaped necklace hanging around his neck. The redhead decided he should visit the city as well, after all, the people cheered for them, he might as well see if he could strike a deal with one of the vendors for some cheaper wares. He absentmindedly grabbed his sword as he left the room, leaving Chung and Eve alone.

As she walked around the city, Aisha almost thought she misjudged the people she found here, after seeing how they cheered for them when they returned, she thought they'd be willing to look past her appearance and treat her normally. So when she neared a stand in a local market, deciding on a whim to buy an apple, she was instantly reminded of how the world is. The merchant bluntly said. "We have nothing to sell to you." She only replied with a small "tch" as she walked towards a tavern, at least wanting to eat something before she returned to the inn. As she walked inside all eyes turned to her, she walked towards the tavern-keeper and promptly asked for something to eat. The tavern-keeper's response was simple. "Look, I don't care how you're dressed, you helped save this city and I'm thankful for that, but others aren't willing to go past their fears. I'll bring you your food." As he left towards the kitchen the girl found a empty table where she sat at.

The girl thought it was only her anxiety when she noticed all the looks that the customers were giving her. Some were frightened, and some looked as if they were about to jump her the next second. While waiting for her food, she left her scepter leaned against her chair. As her food was brought to her, she started eating. The food was enjoyable, unfortunately three men decided they'd want to keep her company. The trio reeked of alcohol as they pulled the empty chairs at her table and sat down.

Aisha eyed the three carefully. Her hand leaving the table and trying to find her scepter. She patted the spot where she thought her weapon was, yet when her hand didn't feel anything except the chair, she snapped her head towards where she thought her weapon was.

One of the men started laughing, as the other lifted the mage's scepter up. "Looking for this?" he asked the girl. "GIVE. IT. BACK." The girl threatened, as Angkor summoned himself. The bat looked around, and upon seeing the one holding the scepter he quickly lashed at the man attempting to bite him. Aisha tried to channel her mana as the bat attacked, but the other two men grabbed her. Their free hands feeling her body. "LET. ME. GO!" She yelled as her eyes darted around the tavern, yet no one moved. Not even the tavern keeper. They were willing to watch as the three had their way with her?. She refused to ask for help as she started attempting to kick the men away from her. The one holding her scepter had an easy time against the bat, as without Aisha's magic imbuing him he was a little more useful than a stuffed animal. He closed in on the defenseless mage as the others were restraining her limbs.

"Say, You don't mind if we do this here, do you?" he said letting out a low chuckle.

On the streets of Hamel, the redhead heard various people talking about a weird girl who walked by, how weird she was dressed. Their comments made the redhead feel anger towards them. He approached a group talking about the girl and simply asked.

"This girl, was her hair purple and did she wear revealing clothes?" one of the women gossiping responded with a aggravated voice "Yes. She looked like a cheap whore." Hearing this angered him even more, but he remained composed, he often met frightened looks himself, but this amount of superficiality pissed him off completely. These gossipy bitches, as he called them in his mind, remembered him just how awful people were, yet he tried to protect them anyways, that's just how he was.

Attempting to keep his calm he asked the woman, "Do you know where she went?" One of the other women from the group butted in and responded. "Yes, I believe she entered that tavern." as she pointed towards a tavern at the end of the street. As the boy walked towards the tavern,on the rather empty and quiet street, he heard an all to familiar voice screaming. "GIVE. IT. BACK!" He instantly recognized the voice. "Aisha!" he quickly muttered under his breath as he ran towards the tavern. "LET. ME. GO!" another scream filled his ears, unconsciously a red aura formed around his body.

As he reached the tavern's front door he smashed it open, all the heads turned towards him, shock feeling the patrons' faces. His eyes darted across the room, as he spotted Aisha over in the far corner of the tavern, three men surrounding her and holding her down on the table. "YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" the boy swore at all the people in the tavern, as he made his way towards the three men. He grabbed the one that was all over Aisha by the collar, and he turned him to face him. The boy's frown was the last thing the man saw, as Elsword's punch connected to his jaw knocking him down and making him lose consciousness. He then dodged a punch coming from one of the other men as the redhead grabbed the man's hair and smashed his head against the table. The last one let go of Aisha, and was trying to get away, but Elsword tackled him to the ground and started relentlessly punching him. Rage taking over.

It took Aisha several tries to get him to snap out of his anger. The boy got up from the man's now deformed face, as he turned he grabbed the girl's wrist and tried walking out. When he neared the front door, he turned towards the tavern-keeper. "You're lucky I don't burn this place down!"

He dragged the mage despite her protests back to the inn. The two entered the now empty room.

Aisha's voice broke the silence as she stood next to the door. "Thank you.." she muttered as she looked down. Elsword was facing away from her. "Don't. This, This whole thing made me regret risking my life for these... people." His fists were clenched, and his voice bore more anger than he to give out. The boy would constantly hide behind a "Happy-go-lucky" mask. Yet in times like this, he'd lose it. And so he did. He turned his head towards the mage, and he saw her wiping her tears. That view made him think, it was the first time he saw her cry. He figured her as a strong person, as one who would always tell what's on her mind, and not care about how the others see her. He started to think he was wrong. The redhead turned to face her, running a hand through the dark patch of his hair.

In the other side of the room, the girl was wiping her tears. Aisha felt stupid, she felt stupid for hoping someone would actually be grateful to her. She felt stupid for thinking someone would look past her clothes or the magic she uses, and see the real her.

Her head perked up as she heard Elsword talk. "I'll be there. For... for you." She shot her head upwards.

"I..Idiot!" she crossed her arms on her chest. Soon, she spoke again. "Thank you."

The rest of the day passed without any notable event's for the two, as they ordered food from the innkeeper and waited for their friends to return. The two shared the room in silence, one looking out the window while tugging at his sword necklace, the other reading from her dark tome, taking sneaky glances at the other.

A thought passed through the girl's mind "He might just see past this. Then again he probably always could."


	2. Velder - Part Two

Laur: *scracthes head* This is a "meanwhile" chapter, meaning the action takes place during the previous chapter. I feel as if there should be more here, ah yes, thanks to Oritha Windbell, wingzero95 and HelloKitty554432 for continued support, and sticking with little awful me from the start. This chapter and the next will be rather short for my liking, but afterwards I'll start getting a plot going towards... someplace.

Velder- Part two.

The Nasod armed man and the elf left the inn, one looking gloomy with his shoulders slumped, the other being cheery as if she'd have saved forty kittens from a tree, all at once. The pair made their way into the busy streets of the now safe, city of Velder, the elf basically dragging the man after her from vendor to vendor, buying food and other consumables that the group would need in their travels.

The two attracted unwanted attention, as Raven's arm, and Rena's, well everything, attracted quite a crowd. Things such as "That man's arm is frightening." or "That girl is gorgeous." reached both of their ears. There were a few rude comments about Rena, at which Raven had a hard time restraining himself from lashing at the group of gossipers.

The elf's cheery voice was heard, she spoke as she absentmindedly checked a random vendor's wares. "Ignore them, please." The man looked at her, worry visible in his eyes, but he tried to obey her wish. He let out a low chuckle as he started speaking with slight amusement in his voice. "What if I do...This." As he finished he closed his eyes and tensed his body. Steam coming out of his Nasod arm as it engulfed the two, steering away the pestering crowd that started coming closer and closer to them. The man grabbed the elf's hand and dashed away in a nearby alley taking cover from the townsfolk's curious eyes.

"You could've just ignored them." The elf stated. Raven's response was a simple shrug, as he led her through the alley towards another street. The man's mind was preoccupied with worry, as what would happen if someone made the connection from the present him, to the past him, the one that attacked the city when he was controlled by his arm but fate has a weird way of getting under your skin.

As the pair re-entered the streets of Velder, an older woman started screaming, and pointing her fingers towards Raven. "IT'S HIM! THE YELLOW-EYED DEVIL! THE WHO TERRORISED US!" the passerby's eyes were darting from the woman to him. "I'D RECOGNIZE THOSE TERRIBLE EYES ANYWHERE! HE'S THE CROW COMMANDER!" Loud gasps were heard as the people remembered the days of terror the dark haired man put them through. A look of regret filled his face, as he bowed his head downwards and tried leaving. As he trudged through the crowd, he noticed Rena wasn't with him, he heard her voice above the crowd's insults.

"He just saved your city, didn't he!? He's not the same as he was!" the girl argued, but someone started yelling back "You expect us to forget and forgive him for all he did to us, to this city ?!" another voice chipped in. "He doesn't belong here, why did he come back?!".

Rena's voice made herself heard again. "So you wanted that monster to devour you all?! Why didn't you say so before we went and risked ourselves saving you!? We didn't ask for anything in return. How can you humans be so ungrateful." as she finished a woman made her way from the crowd, as she approached the elf, her eyes were teary. She raised her palm and struck the blonde square on her cheek.

"That monster.. He..He killed my son!" As tears started streaming down the poor soul's cheeks, she added. "My-My son was- He was a Velder Militia member.." with a loud sigh she continued. "And that monster, he killed him in cold blood!" as she pointed her finger towards the dark haired man. "Who are you, to tell us we are ungrateful, after all the evil he did?!". The elf just stood there, in shock. As she tried forming an answer Raven grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. But she pulled out of his grasp. "Yes, he might have did all of those things, but it wasn't him-he-the current him, is different." A man from the crowd appeared behind the crying woman, and putting an arm in comfort around her he spoke to the elf. "Listen, telling us, he wasn't himself, won't bring the people that died because of him back." Raven turned around. Looked at the man and woman. And he spoke.

"Yes, you're right! I did all of those things. I am fully responsible for them. But you know what? I agree with you being aggressive towards me. But if anyone, and I repeat, anyone, harms her." As he pointed his claw towards the elf. "Or speaks badly of her, I'll put away all reason, and make sure he won't walk again. I regret it, it's my burden, take it out on me, but not on my companions! They risked their lives as well as I and her did to save this city!" as he said that he turned towards Rena and grabbed her arm. No one dared stay in front of him as he made way across the crowd.

Time flew by past the two, as Rena was still dazed. The word spread about the "yellow eyed devil" and people were visibly frightened as they looked towards him. Granted, he was quite different back then, but now, having matured and developed a rather muscular body with a dark hair that he carried in a low pony-tail, he did look rather scary.

A low "Tch" escaped the man's throat as his mind raced, images from back when he was leading the charge against the city of Velder flashed in his mind. Things he tried forgetting, but couldn't resurfaced in his thoughts. He cursed at himself for allowing Rena to see this, he thought he was over it, he thought he could face the people of Velder, but he couldn't. He expected such treatment, after all the evil he caused couldn't be forgotten, and the people he killed couldn't be revived. As he walked towards what he knew was his secret spot, a place where he could be at peace. He desperately wanted to show Rena that place. As the two trudged through the city, the people's subject's changed. From the apparition of the "yellow eyed devil" to some scandal that happened in a local tavern. Apparently, from the bits and pieces of information he gathered as he walked through the streets, some drunkards tried to rape a girl, and a redheaded man stopped them. The man briefly asked himself if that redhead could indeed be Elsword, but he didn't dare think Aisha, or Eve for that matter, could get themselves in that situation. Actually, to be fair, Raven didn't think Eve could, Aisha, he thought, was too vulnerable. The man saw something familiar in girl, she longed for compassion, she hated the way people looked at her, but she'd try and push away everyone that could get close to her. The only one she didn't unorthodoxly tell to mind his own business, was Elsword, and that thought amused the man. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he caught a glimpse of Rena shaking her head.

With a shake of her head the elf spoke as she found herself being dragged around by Raven, their destination unknown to her. "Where are we going?" The man's answer was simple, as he glanced at her. "You'll see." she thought she caught a sight of his rare smile, though she couldn't figure why he'd smile, as in her mind, she only aggravated his situation. The girl thought she attracted needless attention on him, but she couldn't just let them insult him. She just couldn't.

After half an hour or so of walking, the two made a sharp turn, as they were now in an alley, another turn to the left, and they were climbing some stairs, patches of grass could be noticed here and there. The elf stared in wonder as the two were going higher and higher, as they reached a certain point, they were as high as some three story houses, and they were still climbing. Grass was now more visible as the girl could only think these houses were build in the side of a steep hill. The man came to a sudden stop, as Rena was taking in their surroundings, she crashed into his back. A small "oops" escaping her.

He grabbed her shoulders causing her to blush, looking straight into her eyes, he spun her around, forcing the girl to see the most beautiful view she saw since she left her home-world.

The view was breath-taking. The sun seemed to get swallowed by the sea as she watched over the Velder port. The clouds on the sky took a shade of red that reflected upon the ocean, seemingly forming a red flower with the clouds as the petals, the sun as center of it all. To the side the buildings of Velder stood tall, the city's architecture of a militar state showed as even under a demon invasion the damage was minimal. Due to their color, or perhaps she was imagining things, the buildings started taking a golden tinge as her eyes started tearing.

"I-It's beautiful." She covered her mouth with one arm as she entwined her other with Raven's metal arm.

The man's voice was soft as a whisper, almost as if the sun itself would quickly disappear if he spoke louder. "It is isn't it. I wanted you to see it."

The two just stood there, admiring the view, they'd leave for Hamel tomorrow. But for now, they could be without a worry in the world.


	3. Velder - Part Three

Laur: And here's the new chapter.

Elsword: Am I in here yet?

Laur: Ignore him.

Velder – Part Three

Soon after the redhead left the room, the two's discussion took a turn as Eve let a soft gasp escape her lips.

"This- This is.." the queen's hand trailed among the armor's chest regions as she touched the El crystal placed in the middle. Her hands brushed against the soft but sturdy material, as the girl peeked inside she touched the fiber that secured the crystal in place. Her eyes started glowing as data transmitted into her core by the simple fact of her touching the circuitry.

Chung was stunned, he knew she had a particular interest in his equipment, particularly in his Destroyer and Armor. But he didn't expect to see her eyes spontaneously light up. Unconsciously the boy grabbed her shoulders and lightly shook her.

Slightly more worry than he wanted to express came out in his voice, "Eve!". The girl blinked a couple of times, as she retracted her hand. She looked towards him for a second, as the boy saw nothing but dullness in her eyes as she glanced at him. With a motion, Eve brought up her computer screen, as she started typing some information in. The screen flashed red as a small "tch" escaped her. She rose up to her feet and without looking, she merely told the boy to get equipped and follow her. She walked towards the door and waited outside.

Inside the room, Chung was struggling to properly equip himself. All things considered, the armor looked cool, but it sometimes was a pain to put it on in a rush. In a few minutes he was ready though, Destroyer properly slapped against his back, he left the room ready to dash after the girl. As his hand turned the knob he started running forwards. Unfortunately for the guy, the proud Nasod queen was standing right in front of the door, and needless to say Chung ran head first into her petite frame knocking both of them down and pinning her under him.

The two formed a bundle of white-black and blue on the floor, as the queen's hair was everywhere and the prince was trying lift himself up. During those moments Eve's eyes were wide as saucers, she felt temperature rising to her face, and her heartbeat increasing by a mile. On the other hand, she rather enjoyed the feeling, something she made a mental note of. Chung though had one arm over her head, trying to get himself up, in a flash he realized the position they were in, and his cheeks flushed red, as the boy opened his eyes, he was met with two yellow orbs almost telling him in a language only his eyes could decipher, that the girl didn't mind this. Still, she was a royalty and the fact that the Prince was still lingered on top of her was rather inconvenient to her, as she wanted to go somewhere at the moment. Despite the difficult position she was in, with a fluid movement, she slapped the boy off of her, causing him, to topple over, even with his Destroyer strapped on his back.

As she got up and readjusted her attire, her usual cold Eve-like voice spoke towards the boy who was still trying to get up. "Follow me."

"Ahaha" A weird laugh came from the boy, "Coming!"

On the streets of Velder, the two seemed to pass unnoticed, which was rather peculiar seeing the two's rather flashy outfits. On the left side, you'd have Eve, wearing her dark dress, as Moby and Reby were hovering next to her. On the right side, taking the part of the sidewalk that was closer to the road, like a true gentleman would, was Chung, wearing his blue and white armor with all the ornaments a Prince would carry, on top of that he also had his Destroyer on his back. Yet no one minded them any attention.

The two had walked in complete silence after they left the inn, ignoring Chung's attempts and apologizing and excusing himself from crashing into the girl as hard as he did, there were no more attempts at conversation, as the boy allowed himself to be led by the Queen wherever she pleased to go.

Eve's voice could be heard over the usual street chatter, "Your armor, did you know it has parts of Nasod technology in it?"

The prince recoiled a bit as he heard that, but he had to answer the girl's question. Chung took a thinking pose as he kept walking, "No..I don't remember that particular detail, however, in Hamel, there are people who know more about the armor's origins. See, this gear has passed through my family, from the oldest to the youngest. It would start with a medallion, and as time passed, the crystal would accumulate power based on how strong the wearer's spirit is. Then the crystal is removed and is entrusted to the royal blacksmith, as it places the socket inside the armor." saying this he traced the outline of the crystal with his fingers. "Believe it or not, the armor is rather, common, it's the crystal that gives it the power."

Eve briefly looked his way, " Hmm. You must have quite the strong spirit then." Upon catching herself say this, she quickly took her arm covering her mouth. "We're almost there." she tried changing the subject.

Her briefly leaving character left Chung with a tinge of red on his cheeks, as the girl walked into a large building in front of him. The boy muttered under his breath, "Fancy a Nasod now, the queen no less, way to go Chung." He started following her inside. The building itself was a library, the mass of bookshelves that were found inside the massive hall like building rivaled even the Royal Hamel Library Chung thought.

The boy was left staring at, well, everything, of course he spent a lot of his time in a library as he was a kid, reading was a hobby of his, so it would make sense this piqued his interest, suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered, where was Eve? He walked towards the front desk as he asked a rather shy girl who, judging by her tag, was named Elise, about the queen's whereabouts.

"Did you notice a white-haired girl around here?" He awkwardly scratched his head as he talked to the girl.

Seeing the boy in front of her, she pushed up her glasses as a blush spread across her face. "Y-You're the P-Prince!" She softly gasped as she clasped her hands over her mouth.

"Yes, yes, what about the girl?" Chung was serious now, as the girl quickly regained her composure, "Yes, umm I think she went towards the historical part, that way." She pointed in the general direction of the library. Chung briefly thanked the girl and left to seek out Eve.

He found he standing at a table, reading a book titled "Hamel's Royalty and it's origins." Chung knew the book, even though this volume was rather dated. As if to tease the girl, he searched the shelves around him for something about the Nasod. He found a book titled "The Nasod Empire. Origin and Facts." The boy walked with a slight smirked in front of the queen, as he plopped the book straight in front of her. The girl's eyes quickly scanned the title, as she let out a small sigh, before returning to her reading.

"You know, if you wanted to know anything about the Royalty in Hamel, you could've came straight to the source..." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. The girl just raised an eyebrow as her answer was cold, her eyes gazing on his book. "What do you mean? And I could say the same thing."

"Well, seeing as the author is... Fredrick Seiker, alias, my father. I guess I'd know something that was basically taught to me ever since he started writing the damn book." The girl let the book down, as her eyes fixated on his blue ones. "Then why would you get a book based on nothing more than speculation about the Nasod Empire, when you have their queen right in front of your eyes?" This caused the boy to let out a nervous chuckle. "Now, how could I ask a proud queen, about the.. destruction of her people?"

Eve was taken aback by his answer, his consideration was something she didn't take into account when she met the boy. Silently she ran a couple of diagnosis programs in the background, fixating on monitoring her heart rate and temperature, as she felt the two rising. The boy was resting his head against his palm, as he urged the queen to ask her curiosities away.

With a small sigh, "I am rather interested in the relationship the old Hamel had with the Nasod kingdom." the boy's head perked up, "In order for the armor to be realized, the two either had to work together, either had to steal from another." the boy nodded. "It would be most logical to put it like this, yes. Mind if I ask your age?, or the approximate amount of time that passed ever since you've put yourself to hibernation? " **(AN: Slight plot hole here, Chung knew about her hibernation, and Elsword awakening her during their discussion in the room, back in chapter one.) **

Eve's computer screen flashed, as she read the data he answer came shortly. "By my readings, I've hibernated for about 800 years. The margin for error being give or take 40." Her gaze returned to the prince. The boy looked as he was pondering her response. Her curiosity piqued.

"By what I remember from my father, the Hamel kingdom at the time was rather large, it used to reign over Veldis, what's now today's Velder." His voice was uncertain as he said that." The two kingdoms were at war, something called The Machine March, happened. As we, the kingdom of Hamel, provoked the Nasod a number of times. After some battles were fought, both sides were suffering, the humans were more on the injured side, seeing as our technology wasn't quite as advanced. So we offered to make peace with the Nasods. We offered one of our greatest El crystals at the time. 'Hope's Tear'. Your people accepted the gift, and in return offered to the king one of their own, a catalyst of some sort. Our kingdom didn't know what it did at the time, so we just accepted it blindly. The catalyst, is the core of mine and my... father's armor."

She seemed to ponder what information she got. "Hmm, your input corresponds with some older records I have. Would you mind giving me the details of this El crystal?" His answer was immediate, "I can't, not because I don't want to, because I don't know, all I know, it's that it seemed to have a dark blue color, indicating it's potency."

"Fair enough." the girl pondered. "Ask away, I will try to answer your questions with utmost accuracy." All things considered, what she asked wasn't a common topic for Chung, but the silver haired queen was rather impressed by the boy's intellect.

The boy took a deep breath, "I'm interested in the destruction of your empire, what can you tell me about it." He could've sworn he saw a tinge of sadness wash over the self-proclaimed emotion-less queen. "There's nothing to say, really." She took Chung's book and quickly scanned over it. "Rubbish." She stated. "This book claims an El explosion wiped our energy crystals' power away. Idiotic. What really happened, was that a man showed up in our court, I was there after all. He wore rather unusual outfit, a lot of white and orange, seemed oriental, by today's standards. He claimed to come from a faraway land, and wanted a visit on the king, my father. He granted his wish. The two talked and I heard the man storm out of my father's throne-room, as he headed outside the palace. That night, he returned. I heard rumbling outside as I went to the window, I saw him carrying a monstrous sword. He quickly dispatched the guards and crushed the front doors. I ran towards the throne room, only to hear sound of battle. My father was fighting the man. As he seemed to win, the man started a maniacal laugh, as his skin turned gray, his hair white, and his pupils red. A shockwave pushed my father away as horns came out of the man's head. Then the empress came and grabbed me, she took me to a secret place in the basement of the castle. She placed me inside the pod I awakened from." The girl took a deep breath, unaware of the fact that her eyes started tearing. This took Chung by surprise, he didn't know she was capable of that, yet he somehow hoped she can feel. "Sometimes, I'd manage to awake, for a few seconds, the first time I did, I saw him, his clawed hand was on the pod, and he wore a devilish grin while he stood there. The next time, he wasn't there." Eve didn't notice how her voice started wavering, or how in her description, she was silently sobbing.

Chung extended his hand as he wiped the tear that started falling on her cheek. He muttered something under his breath, and then lifted his head up as he apologized. "Let's leave." he proposed as the queen got up and followed.

On their way back, Chung's face was filled with new-found worry. The description Eve provided of the man, looked somehow familiar to him. He just couldn't pin-point it exactly.

As the two neared the inn, Chung stopped, he turned towards the girl as he hugged her. "I'm, I'm sorry for making you remember this." He whispered. Eve on the other hand was blushing rather deeply, her eyes blinked a couple of times before she replied. "No need."

The two broke their hug as a loud cough was heard. Both of them snapped their heads in the direction of the noise and as they saw Raven and Rena standing there, one of them blushed even harder, and the other awkwardly smiled as he felt like kicking himself.

The four entered the inn, and ordered food up in their room. Chung insisted they order what they wanted and that he would treat them. As he left the three to order, well, Eve was just trying to sort what happened between them a few moments ago, Chung made his way to the second floor, and entered the room without knocking.

Inside, a sleeping purplenette laid in Elswords bed, as the redhead neatly tucked her in under the covers. The redhead just turned his head towards him, as he tugged at the sword necklace he had. "Not. A. Word." the redhead mouthed to the prince. Chung responded with a zipper motion across his lips, as the redhead took his usual window spot and just stared at the orange sky.

The rest of the group ate in silence, taking care not to wake up Aisha. Elsword didn't feel the need to explain the events that happened to them, as he noticed the glances Raven and Rena threw eachother when they thought no one was looking. The redhead decided to keep his mask on as he tried teasing the two.

"So, have you two kissed yet?" he said with his fork still in his mouth. Hearing this, Raven spat the water he was drinking, and Rena blushed a fierce red. Chung and Eve were oblivious to what was going on.

"That's enough for now." Elsword thought, as he got up from the table with a smirk on his face. He took Aisha's bed as he tried sleeping hoping his nightmare won't reoccur, yet he knew it would. It always had.

Later that night, Elsword's nightmare occurred again. Causing the redhead to awaken as cold sweat formed on his forehead. His eyes darted across the room, hoping no one woke up. But as he scanned from bed to bed, he found Aisha's empty. She was sitting by the window, her shadow fell across the bed she slept in. The moonlight gave the girl a more eerie feel, as her eyes were glowing a strange shade of violet. She took a finger to her mouth and shushed at the redhead, she tilted her head to the side as a small, quiet laugh escaped her. Her head turned again towards the sky, as she mimicked his position from during the day.

The boy moved over in his bed, the covers were still warm, sign she didn't wake up long before him. As he looked at the girl he heard her whisper. "Looks like," She turned her head to face him, as she gave the boy he sweetest smile. "I'm not the only one having nightmares.". The redhead tilted his head down and started laying on his bed, his eyes were intently staring at the ceilings as one thought remained in his head.

"She knows. Yet, I'm glad."


End file.
